Automobile body construction



Aug. 8, 1933. H. R. CRECELIUS 1,921,284

AUTOMOBILE BODY CONSTRUCTION Filed June 10, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. /o 14. MM

A TTORNE Y.

Aug- 8, 1933- H. R. CRECELIUS 1,921,284

AUTOMOBILE BODY CONSTRUCTION Filed June 10. 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR.

B Y I A TTORNE Y.

1933- H. R. CRECELIUS 1,921,284

AUTOMOBILE BODY CONSTRUCTION Filed June 10, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN TOR.

" -a A TTORNE Y.

P n A g-8r j 5 1,921,284"

i UNITED STATES ATENT] F AUTOMOBILE Bony looNsT woTIoN Henry Rt- Crecelius', Detroit, 'Mich.,= assignor to T 'Ford Motor Company, Dearborn Mich a,C0r-, poration "of Delaware j Application June 10,1931. I Serial o. 543,409

41 Claims. (61. 296-28) The object ofmy. -inventionis to provide a Still a, further: object of my invention is to streamline automobile-body construction of the provideabody construction having a door, as closed 'car type which will possess advantages just described, in which the Window glass is reheretofore unobtainable'in this type of body. ciprocally mounted and in which both edges of More Specifically, my invention relates to auto.- the glass are supported substantially the iull 60 mobile bodies having slanted Windshields, that is, height of the glass. Formerly, when the hinge Windshields tilted so that f their upper edges are pillar of the 'door'was slantedto correspondto a spaced a considerable distancerearwardlyof.the slanting Windshield 'post, it was impossible to lower portions thereof. Such Windshields are provide a glass run supporting both edges of 1 advantageous both from an appearance and an: the window glass therein, forthe reason that 65, areodynamic standpoint. -It is well known that the slanted edge of the glass pulled away from air resistance is the major retarding force in the theglass run when the glass-was lowered. With p fi ll of Cars at a y g p eds n 0 my improved construction,.the glass is supported q n y, the trend in automobile design '0 along both edges for substantially the full height v counteract u air'resisiance as much as PO thereof, thissupport being maintained even when 70 Sible Without r w l i g theapp the glass is in its lowestposition whereby rattle or a'ppomtments of the Vehicle use of a and breakage of the glass is amply resisted. slanting Windshield for reducing the air resist w these and other objcts in View lence than occurswith avertical windshield for; and g g ia g ig 35 222221 which reasonthe use of such slanting Windshields W FY p I v is quite, extensive at the present time. My imla my P a llhjlstmted m F proved construotionloombines the'advantage's of compsnymg w s 1n f t the slanted windshield with certain other advan- Flgure Shows ayslde elevatlon F ype 80 tages, to be 'more iully described later inthis body. havlnginrlmproved constructloil m specification, which other advantages were hereporfflted t' t 7 tofore unobtainable. Ftgure h s alsld-e fat of f type, J It is almost essential that the door pillarsand -Y h ms t Fonstructlon also Incorporatedother obstruction s on automobile closed, bodies," fQ v th' especially the windshield side posts, be as small 3 an enlarged f of r e in cross section as possible in order togprovide w h d 1 0 QWn the bodleslnustl'atfid the maximum of unobstructed. visionfor the m E f driver of thecar. For this reason, the hinge Figure 4 Shows a sectlonsl k th '35. posts'of the doors adjacent to the k windshield 11113 of Figure 3. 7 90 must closely follow the lines of the windshield l' shows 3 diagrammatiii View to thereby'offeras smalla cross section for the mg tlflevwmdow glass and Yegulatmg mechamsmr combined members as possible This require- .showmg h l glass runs whereby the glasslls ment'has led to numerous difficulties in design; Supported on both edges substantlally h 1 ingclosed bodies havinghslantin g Windshields gh h e V because the upper half. of the door is adjacent Flgure 6 1S dlagmmmatlc Y W lllusiratlng to the windshield and must be Slanted, while one m n of n i g a q c door dlsposed the lower half mustremain' vertical. f The door d t w n h e d; hinges can be secured to onlyone'portion of Figure is a d ra ma ic: V 6 1 45v these posts, usually the lower half, inasmuch as stillv another method f u n a v l d the edge-of the door is not straight from top to adlacentito 811011 d d, n i bottom. This construction leaves the upper poi v Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view, illustrating ftion of the door entirely unsupported and,.as the applicants structu're'for mounting such vethiszportion consists of only a narrow glass hicle door; the Figures 6 and 7 beingshown-to 50 frame, the vibration of the car frequently sets more clearly distinguish the advantages of the up rattles in this portion of the doorwhich are applicants structure over'the prior constructions. very. annoying and very: difficult to eliminate. l Referring; to the accompanying, drawings, I My invention eliminates this disadvantage by haveused the reference-numeral 10 to indicate allowing the use of hinges'along'the full-height generally an automobile body of .the coupe type 551 of the door. 7 V having a cowl portion 11 associated therewith.

A pair of windshield posts 12 extend upwardly and rearwardly in a diagonal direction from each. side of the cowl and a windshield 13 is mounted between these two posts, the windshield glass being held'in a conventional frame member 25. The upper ends of the posts 1?. are perina nently secured to the roof l l. of the vehicle and the forward edge of the roof is rounded so that reduced air resistance results with this bony by allowing a smooth and relatively unrestricted ilow of air from the windshield up and over the f roof 14.

I have provided a rectangular shaped door opening in each side of the car body and it will be noted that these openings are spaced rearwardly a considerable distance i'rom the lower ends of windshield posts. In fact, the for ward edges of these openings are substantially in line with the upper ends of the windshield posts. Doors 15 form the closures for these openings, the lower portions of which are solid and the upper portions of which are provided with windows 16 reciprocally mounted therein to be raised and lowered in and out of the solid portions of the doors. It willbe noted'that the openings for these doors not exactly rcctangular but that the forward edge of each openonly extends vertically from the body sill I up to position level with the top of the cowl,

section above the cowl being offset forwardly so to follow the slanted lines oi'the windshield posts. For this reason, the doors are provided with a plurality-of hinges i7 fastened to the lower half of each door and to the adjacent portion of the body. Directly iniine with and above the hinges 17, I have provided still an- 7 other hinge 18 which secures the upper corner of the door with the upper end of the adjacent windshield post. It is, of course, necessary that hinges 17 and 13 be in alignment and that r pivot line extends in a vertical direction, otherwise the door will not swing porperly.

The forward edge of the door is constructed around a door pillar which extends the'full height thereof, which door pillar is, of course, offset, as shown by numeral 20.

Referring to Figure 3, the pivot line upon whic'lr'the door swings; is shown by the dotted line 19 and it will further be noted that due to the lower. portion of the windshield post 12 bespaced forwardly from the door opening, the forward door pillar must is offset forwardly as otherwise, a gap would be inevitable between the door and the lower portion of the windshield post.

I have thus provided such an offset portion 20 formed integrally with the forward edge of the door. Two very important results'are obtained'by this provision, theone being that the joint between the door and the adjacent windshieid'post followsthe general slanting irection of f the windshield to thereby carry out the streamline, appearance of the vehicle, and the other being that the cross section ofthe post and door pillaris correspondingly reduced so that relatively clear and unobstructed vision results. It may be well to mention herein that the total thickness of my door pillar and windshield post need be no greater than that required for struc tural strength alone.

At a glance it may not be apparent that such a door will swing clear of the body nevertheless, referring to Figure 4, it will be seen that the forward edge of the offset portion 2o swings around the hinges 17 when the door is opened in a path, shown by dotted lines 21, and that the inner portion of the door swings in a path, shown by dotted lines 22. Thus, clearance is obtained for this offset portion so that the door willopen without binding.

Referring to Figure 5, the interior of my door structure and reciprocating windowlfi are shown. The means for guiding the window consist of a pair of channel shaped runs 23 secured to the interior edge of each of the door pillars, the rear run extending the full height of the door from thelower parttothe upper edge thereof, while the forward glass runs extend from the lower part of the door upto position spaced only a J short distance from the upper edge thereof.

These two glass runs are parallel whereby praotically the full length of both edges of the glass are supported therein whereby the glass may be amply supported while being raised and lowered by a suitable window regulating mechanism-24. It will also be noted from this view that the forward glass run extends vertically through'the slanting offset portion 28, whereby the slanted appearance of the members is maintained.

' Figure 6 shows one method of mounting a door on a vehicle having a slanting windshield.

In this construction the door is formed'in' the shape of a parallelogram with the hinge line extending in a diagonal. direction parallel to the adjacent windshield post. Inasmuch as both door pillars in such device are 'parallelpthe window glass may be readily made torecipro cate between two diagonal but parallel runways so that in this respect the device is suitable for amply supporting bo h edges of the glass. Howcenter of gravity has been raised a considerable height above itsnormal plane which is shown by the dotted line 28, the amount of this raise being designated by the dotted line 29.- It will consequently be seen that when the door open j the weight thereof represented by thecenter of gravity 26 will tend to swing along the line 27 and'slam the door shut, usually with such violence that a persons fingers if caught therebetween would be seriously injured. This defect is inherent with this type of slanted'hinge line' andis increased by increasing the slant of the hinge line. For this reason a vertical'hinge line is imperative so that this door will open easily and remain open in any of its. positions until manually closed. Referring to Figure 7 still another form .of body is shown wherein a slanted windshieldis incorporated. It will be notedv from'this View that the hinge line extends-in a vertical direc tion and that it intersects the windshield post at its lower end. An offset hingemust be provided between the upper part of the door and the upper end of the windshield post so that the upper portion of the door'may be supported Due to the long arms of suchhinges, which are necessary tor-each from the door to the verticalhinge struction is shown diagrammatically, from which it willbe seen that I have provided a slanting joint between the forward. edge of the door and the windshield post to carry out the streamline appearance of the car; that I have provided a vertical hinge line between the door and the body so that the door will swing correctly; that further, I have-provided a hinge between the upper portion of the door and. thewindshield post which althoughinconspicious rigidly supports the upper portion ofthe door; and that still further, Iv have provided a window glass which may be raisedor lowered and whichis provided with supporting glass runs extending;

substantially the full length of each side thereof.

Referring to Figure 2, a sedan type body is shown having my improved door construction incorporated therein, the slanted streamline appearance of the windshield being carried out in the design of the rear doors 39 of the car. It will be seen that the rear edge of the door 30 is offset similar to the forward edge of the'door 15 so that the window openings are substantially the same shapewhereby the streamline appearance of the car is enhanced. Although a rectangular shaped door would no doubt serve the purpose equally as well and be of equal strength; still when a slanted type windshield is used, it may be found desirable from an appearance standpoint to provide a similar rear door to carry out this streamline appearance.

Many advantages are derivedfrom the useof my improved device among which it may be well to mention that I have provided an automobile body having a slanted windshield and. at the same time have provided narrow, windshield-- not project forwardly of the windshield post to thereof.

thereby effectively prevent rattle and vibration between the door and body. v a

Some changes may be made in the arrangement, construction and combination of the Vari'ous parts of my improved device without demy intention to cover'by my claims such changes parting from the spirit of my invention, and it is as may reasonably be included within the scope I claim as my invention:

a door opening in one side thereof extending sub 'stantiallythe full height of said body, an up: wardly and rearwardly slanting windshield post] associated with said body, said post forming the upperportionof the forward edge of said door,

' p -1. In an automobile body having a rigid top non-detachably associated therewith and having opening andhaving its lower end spaced 2. substantial'distance forwardly from the lower portion of said forward edge, a door extendingsub stantially the full height of said'door. opening and forming a closure therefor, said door being characterized by having its forward edge built around a continuous door pillar'whic'h is forwardly offset intermediate ofits endsso as to be opening, a plurality of aligned hingesv securing ,the lower portio'n of said door to the adjacent edge of the door opening and securing the upper within the lower'portion of said'door so as to be I V operatively raised to close said window opening. 2. A device, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said door hinge line extends in a truly vertical direction. 1 7

' 3. A device, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said' complementary to the forward ed'ge'of said door door pillar isformed as a single metal casting which extendsthe full height of said door.

- '4.A-device, "as claimed in claim 1, wherein 7 said window opening is formed with its lower forward corner, extending into said offset portion so as to, be substantially horizontally aligned with 'the door hinge line and vertically aligned with 

